Chapter 175: Assimilation Experiment

The Lanfang Republic's final choice was naturally to submit to Spanish rule.

At least by submitting to the Spanish, there was still a choice; if they lacked Spanish support, the only outcome awaiting Lanfang would be annihilation.

"Diplomat Wu, you have made the correct choice." Inside the Madrid Royal Palace, Gao Da wore a satisfied smile as he reached a preliminary agreement with Wu Yongxiang regarding cooperation between Spain and Lanfang.

Because Wu Yongxiang was the plenipotentiary representative of the Lanfang Republic, the signing of the cooperation treaty between the two sides only required him to sign on their behalf.

As for the question of whether the Lanfang Republic might renege on the agreement, Gao Da had absolutely no need to worry.

Before the Lanfang Republic defeated the Dutch, they would always have to face colonial pressure from the Dutch East Indies.

And the time it would take them to defeat the Dutch was entirely determined by Spain. As long as Gao Da was willing, the Lanfang Republic could continue to exhaust the Dutch like this forever.

On February 12, 1875, Spanish Prime Minister Primo and Lanfang plenipotentiary representative Wu Yongxiang jointly signed the document regarding the "Spain-Lanfang Treaty of Friendly Cooperation" under the witness of several media outlets, and left behind precious video footage.

The vast majority of the media had no interest in the Lanfang Republic; what they were interested in was why Spain would choose to sign a cooperation agreement with a Lanfang Republic that had little fame or strength.

If one were to speak of countries concerned about this, it was likely only the Netherlands.

Because theoretically, Lanfang was within the Dutch colonial sphere, and they were even nominally subject to the Dutch East Indies colony.

However, by the time the Dutch received the news, several days had already passed since the two sides signed the cooperation treaty.

Even if the Dutch were dissatisfied, they could only swallow their bitterness.

After all, Spain crushed the Netherlands in terms of scale and comprehensive strength; unless the Netherlands was still the United Kingdom that ruled over Belgium and Luxembourg, it could not be mentioned in the same breath as Spain.

But then again, if the three Low Countries were still one, I am afraid there would be no need for Spain to compete with the Dutch; the great powers would have stepped in to make the three Low Countries dissolve themselves.

Situated within the angle of the three countries of England, France, and Germany, it was destined that a true great power could not exist in this region.

Let alone a super-power on the level of the great powers, even a regional power was not allowed to exist.

To put it bluntly, none of the three parties—England, France, or Germany—would allow a country to appear in the Low Countries region that was more formidable than themselves or threatened them.

Prime Minister Primo did not express any opposition when he learned that Gao Da had already finished negotiating the cooperation matters with the representative of the Lanfang Republic.

After all, such cooperation was beneficial to Spain, and the vast majority of the clauses in the entire cooperation agreement could help Spain better carry out colonization in the Kalimantan region.

However, regarding the loyalty of this newly acquired little brother, the Lanfang Republic, neither Gao Da nor Prime Minister Primo trusted them in essence.

It was nothing more than the Netherlands hoping to destroy this country and completely annex the land of the Lanfang Republic, while Spain hoped to control the Lanfang Republic to gain the help of a country with a population of over 4 million and relatively developed agriculture, while simultaneously countering the Dutch.

It must be admitted that the land of Southeast Asia is naturally suited for growing crops.

Because it is located in the tropics, the rice grown here can achieve two or even three harvests a year, with grain yields several times higher than in temperate regions.

Don't look at the fact that the Lanfang Republic only has a population of 4 million; the grain they produce is enough to feed 15 million people for over a year.

This is quite exaggerated, and it also makes the Lanfang Republic's agriculture the pillar industry of the entire country, as well as the bulk of its economic income.

For Spain, the grain output from the Lanfang Republic could well compensate for the grain shortage in the East Indies, that is, the Philippines region.

By letting the Lanfang people provide them with enough grain, the Spanish could put their energy into crops with higher value, such as rubber or other industries.

Of course, for Gao Da and Spain, the greatest use of the Lanfang Republic was not providing grain output or countering the Dutch, but existing as a vassal-like state to provide Spain with more troops.

Yes, Gao Da had no intention of giving up on the Lanfang Republic. In Gao Da's strategic plan for Spain's future, the Lanfang Republic would serve as Spain's permanent vassal state, helping Spain expand its territory and build a prosperous empire.

Don't look at the fact that the Lanfang Republic currently only has a population of 4 million; the Lanfang Republic has the backing of the most populous country.

The reason the current population is only 4 million, besides the constant colonial suppression by the Dutch, is that that populous country has not yet completely weakened.

As long as the Lanfang Republic builds up a significant reputation, it will certainly be able to attract more people to come, thereby allowing the Lanfang Republic's population to exceed ten million.

The utility of a country with a population of ten million to Spain would be increased to a greater degree, and the army it could assemble would reach hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Such an exaggerated scale of troops, let alone a small Dutch East Indies colony, could even pose a significant threat to the India that the British are so obsessed with.

Of course, Gao Da would not be foolish enough to actually compete with the British for India. Not to mention whether he could win or not, Spain's scale was not enough to suppress a country as large as India.

But being able to possess hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops would undoubtedly make the British value Spain's existence more, and would also allow Spain to conduct diplomatic activities with more peace of mind.

After all, if they truly fell out, even if the final victor were Britain, Britain would definitely be severely damaged.

Furthermore, even if the enemy were not Britain, the Lanfang Republic could still play a certain role. After all, in this era, population is the most important thing; with a sufficient population, whether it is colonial expansion or waging war, it represents sufficient confidence.

But to achieve such a goal, one must realize dual control over the Lanfang Republic's economy and military.

Achieving dual control is very difficult; after all, the Lanfang Republic would not just sit and wait to be captured. The Lanfang people are not fools; facing Spain's intention to completely control the Lanfang Republic, they would certainly be more guarded, and might even develop hostile thoughts.

But it is not entirely without a way; for example, one could carry out cultural infiltration and select a portion of talent to cultivate from a young age.

Select a portion of gifted Lanfang Republic children, cultivate them in Spain from a young age, and send them back after they grow up and graduate from university.

Because these people grew up in Spain, they would involuntarily feel close to Spain. Once these people enter the upper echelons of the Lanfang Republic, the pro-Spain faction in the Lanfang Republic would gradually form and grasp the right to speak.

By then, Spain would only need to support the pro-Spain faction within the Lanfang Republic to influence or even control this country.

This is also a routine commonly used by certain countries in later generations. Spain would not even need to show its face much; just by relying on the pro-Spain faction cultivated within the Lanfang Republic, it could grasp sufficient right to speak.

Coupled with controlling the scale of the Lanfang Republic to ensure that the Lanfang Republic's population remains at the ten-million level, one could ensure that the Lanfang Republic would not cause a backlash against Spain.

One could even create checks and balances through the local indigenous people, letting the Lanfang Republic and the local indigenous people compete with each other, and Spain could sit back and relax.

After the cooperation treaty between the two sides was signed, Wu Yongxiang remained in Spain as a diplomatic ambassador.

Since the relevant cooperation treaty had already been signed, the next step would certainly be to develop further cooperation with the Lanfang Republic.

At least until Gao Da's goal was achieved, Gao Da was unwilling to see the Lanfang Republic destroyed by the Dutch.

The biggest problem currently existing between Spain and the Lanfang Republic is communication. The Lanfang Republic is also relatively backward, so naturally, it would not have any means of ocean-going communication.

The most urgent problem to solve currently is the communication problem between the Spanish mainland and the Lanfang Republic. After some deliberation, it was finally decided to build a wired telegraph between the Lanfang Republic and the Spanish East Indies colony for contact.

The connection between the Lanfang Republic and the Spanish mainland basically relied on the East Indies colony to relay messages.

This was also a helpless situation; after all, the technology of this era is just like this, and there is no such thing as wireless communication or internet technology.

The reason why it was possible to transmit telegraph information across the ocean was by relying on the transoceanic cables laid by European countries between the oceans.

Moreover, the technology for transoceanic cables was not mature, having only existed for about ten years since its birth.

This led to long-distance telegraph transmission requiring a long time, and sometimes, due to sudden signal interruptions and other problems, the received information was incomplete or incorrect.

But there was no other way; it was already the most effective and fastest long-distance communication method for humanity at present.

Besides using transoceanic cables to send telegraphs, the only other way was to rely on traveling thousands of miles in person to spread news.

Not many days later, the first batch of weapons and equipment from Spain to support the Lanfang Republic had already been successfully loaded onto ships and, under the gaze of Wu Yongxiang, slowly entered the Atlantic.

To express Spain's sincerity in supporting the Lanfang Republic, this batch of weapons and equipment would be provided to the Lanfang Republic for free.

Doing so would not cause a loss for Gao Da or the Spanish government; after all, these were weapons and equipment phased out from the original army, all of which were backward muzzle-loading guns and paper-wrapped bullets, without even a single piece of artillery.

It was nothing more than the transportation costs required to ship this batch of weapons from Spain to Kalimantan; other than that, there were no extra expenses.

If the Lanfang Republic wanted to purchase weapons and equipment afterward, they would have to spend real gold and silver, or exchange them for other valuable materials of equal value.

Whether it was the backward muzzle-loading guns or the latest breech-loading guns from the Royal Military Factory, they were all on the list of weapons for export.

After all, the Lanfang Republic did not have the ability to build ammunition production lines; even if they bought the guns, they would have to rely on ammunition imported from Spain.

By selling weapons and equipment to better arm the Lanfang Republic, it could also divert the attention of the Dutch and the British.

Accompanying this batch of weapons to the Lanfang Republic was also a military mission of several dozen people.

The purpose of this mission was to help the Lanfang Republic's army train a new army with strong combat effectiveness that could counter the Dutch.

On one hand, the combat effectiveness of the Lanfang Republic's army was indeed not good; on the other hand, Spain indeed also needed to carry out military infiltration of the Lanfang Republic.

Another reason was to observe the true performance of these weapons on the battlefield. Although only a batch of muzzle-loading guns had been transported to the Lanfang Republic for now, who could guarantee that the Lanfang Republic would not purchase advanced breech-loading guns from Spain?

Within the Lanfang Republic's army, one could also drill some of the Spanish military's ideas for army organization, helping the Spanish army carry out better reforms.

Real war is the only means to test an army; currently, Spain lacks the experience of war, so it could only rely on this way of observing the battlefield at close range to gain some experience.

To save on transportation expenses, while transporting weapons and equipment to the Lanfang Republic, Spain would simultaneously transport a batch of weapons and equipment to the East Indies colony.

Spain's colonial expansion into Kalimantan had not stopped, and war would even inevitably occur. To be on the safe side, it was certainly necessary to supply the colonial army in the East Indies with weapons and ammunition.

There was also the expansion plan for the East Indies colony. Besides Kalimantan, Gao Da was also prepared to let the East Indies colony expand in the direction of New Guinea.

New Guinea is an island even larger than Kalimantan, the second-largest island in the world after Greenland.

Considering that Greenland is already quite close to the North Pole and the climate is cold and unsuitable for development, New Guinea is already the largest island that can be developed.

More importantly, compared to the island of Kalimantan, which had already been infiltrated by British and Dutch forces, large tracts of land on the island of New Guinea had still not been stepped on by the great powers.

Spain had every opportunity to occupy a piece of land on the island of New Guinea to expand its colony. Whether it was to establish a new colonial region separately or to merge it into the already unified East Indies colony, both were good choices.

Whether these places were used to grow economic products like rubber or to reclaim land to grow grain, they could bring huge harvests to Spain.

Perhaps relying on Spain alone would not be enough to develop these regions, but if the Lanfang Republic were used to develop them, one could achieve unexpected harvests.

The regions that Spain would focus on developing in the future would still be Africa, especially the South Morocco region. After all, the Morocco region was the only place that could truly be localized; for the vast majority of colonies other than this, the probability of being localized was very small, and in the end, they would eventually break away from Spain's control.

Yes, Gao Da saw this point very clearly.

The collapse of the colonial system is inevitable, unless the outbreak of the two world wars could be prevented. Fortunately, Spain had already lost the vast majority of its colonies; even if they waited until the day the colonial system collapsed, Spain's losses would not be that great.

What Gao Da had to do was to cut up Spain's colonies before the colonial system collapsed. For those that could be localized, he would increase development and carry out complete localization before that day arrived.

For those that could not be localized, he would use their final value as much as possible to exchange for more benefits for Spain.

Speaking of the South Morocco colony, its construction since its establishment had been quite successful. The railway running north to south within the colony had already been completed, which not only greatly facilitated the transportation of materials within the colony but also strengthened Spain's control over this land.

Morocco's population is not large, even smaller than the population of the small Lanfang Republic. The Lanfang Republic's population had just reached 4 million, while Morocco's population barely exceeded 3 million.

The land occupied by Spain is not small; all the land south of the Agadir to Tata line to the Sahara Desert belonged to the scope of the South Morocco colony.

But the population of this land was only about one-tenth of Morocco's total population, and most of that population was located in the largest city, Agadir, which was also the current capital of the South Morocco colony.

This was bad news, but it was also good news.

The bad news was that the South Morocco colony, with a population of less than 300, 00, would be difficult to develop into a highly prosperous region like Cuba in a short period of time.

Even for a long time in the future, Spain's investment in the South Morocco colony would be losing money. To make the South Morocco colony continuously generate income for Spain like Cuba, it would be impossible to see within the next ten years.

But there was also good news. Because the population of the South Morocco colony was sparse, Spain could use it as an experimental site to explore the possibility of assimilating the Moroccans.

As the most special region in Africa, Moroccans are a white population and are relatively similar to the Spanish. Apart from the two most obvious differences of language and religion, if a Spaniard and a Moroccan were standing together wearing the same clothing, it would really be quite difficult to distinguish them.

The Moroccan population is also not large, so it would be relatively easy to assimilate them. Even if only a portion could be assimilated, it could effectively increase Spain's population and lay a good foundation for Spain's future strength.

If it were truly impossible to assimilate the Moroccans, Gao Da could only choose a more hardline approach and completely drive these Moroccans out of Morocco.

After all, if one wanted to localize Morocco, one had to ensure that the majority of the residents living in Morocco were truly Spanish in the real sense.

Only in this way can true localization be achieved, allowing Morocco to become several major regions of Spain, rather than existing as a colony.

Currently, Spain's primary pilot project is in Agadir, in the South Morocco colony. By building Spanish language schools and vigorously spreading Catholicism, they are doing their utmost to incorporate these Moroccans into the great embrace of Spain.

Secondly, there is the education of these Moroccans from a young age, letting them view themselves as Spaniards from childhood.

Through this two-pronged approach, they are assimilating the Moroccans as much as possible. Before Spain has completely occupied Morocco, there is still a long time to experiment with the assimilation of the Moroccans.

When the moment of complete occupation of Morocco arrives, this experiment will eventually have to yield a result. Whether the Moroccans stay or leave, and how the Morocco region should ultimately be handled, will depend on the results of this assimilation experiment.

A five-thousand-character two-in-one chapter, seeking support!

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(End of chapter)